Bilingualism in schools and society: language, identity, and policy

Abstract

Bilingualism has permeated people's life in our current globalized world. However, as Shin aptly points out in this book, there are still major misconceptions of bilingualism arising from the traditional monolingual ideology. To overcome this, bilingualism should be understood as a phenomenon in its own right. Shin presents state-of-the-art knowledge of this issue by reviewing and discussing up-to-date empirical research from two overarching aspects -the social and educational needs of bilingual/multilingual children and adults around the world.There are nine chapters in this book. The first three chapters situate bilingualism against the backdrop of globalization and describe the sociopolitical forces that contribute to the growth of bilingualism. Chapters 4-6 introduce specific phenomena and characteristics associated with bilingualism, including heritage language education, bilingualism and identity, and code-switching. Chapters 7-9 provide practical implications by discussing English Learners (ELs) education, educational models in additive bilingualism, and multilingual education at home.While introducing readers to a variety of theoretical traditions in bilingualism research, Shin mainly takes the stance of a sociolinguist in this book. Over the last decade, one of the major changes in sociolinguistic research on bilingualism/multilingualism is a shift of focus on the social, cultural, and linguistic changes caused 'by globalization, by transnational populations flows, by the advent of new communication technologies, by the changes taking place in the political and economic landscape of different regions of the world' (Martin-Jones and Gardner 2012, 1). Shin's discussion on bilingualism manifests this trend.As shown in Chapter 2 Bilingualism in a globalized world, the advance of modern technology, especially the Internet, has provided great opportunities for people across the world to communicate in an interconnected manner. On the other hand, globalization poses threats to the preservation of minority languages and corresponding identity maintenance with the spreading of English as a lingua franca. It is often held that when a language dies, the culture and knowledge in it dies as well (e.g., Harrison 2007). However, against the globalization context, the notion of simply linking language with ethnic identity is challenged by the position of understanding language as a marketable commodity (Heller 2003). For example, English is a desirable commodity/skill that attracts people's investment in modern society. Shin also discusses four global flows that contribute to our understanding of linguistic and cultural diversity in modern society, including transnational migration, popular music, advertising, and the Internet. People often use English as the dominant language for formal communication while code-mixing English with their local languages in music (e.g., Korean pop songs), advertising and internet language. This

Discrimination, language brokering efficacy, and academic competence among adolescent language brokers

“…For example, bilingualism has been considered as a unique cultural asset for Mexican American children (Borrero, 2015). As bilingualism is associated with better academic outcomes in general (Golash‐Boza, 2005; Ke, 2014), future studies can explore whether such benefits still hold for Mexican American adolescent brokers and whether such benefits can counteract the negative influences of discrimination on adolescents' academic outcomes. In addition, the three indicators of academic competence (i.e., grades, learning goals and school engagement) in the current studies were self‐reported by adolescents, which may introduce self‐evaluation biases.…”

Bilingual language broker profiles and academic competence in Mexican-origin adolescents.

“…Indeed, García Coll et al’s (1996) integrative model posits that such an adaptive acculturative strategy can promote children’s developmental competence. Prior studies have found that bilingualism is related to positive academic outcomes, as bilingual children have higher test scores (Golash-Boza, 2005) and lower high school drop-out rates (Ke, 2014) compared with their monolingual counterparts. Therefore, it is essential to consider the benefits of bilingualism in light of the academic risks faced by Mexican-origin adolescents.…”

“…Thus, we expect the emergence of a group characterized by high proficiency in both English and Spanish, with positive brokering experiences. Membership in this group would be most optimal for bilingual adolescents’ sense of academic competence, given prior evidence demonstrating the beneficial effects of bilingualism and positive brokering experiences on adolescent adjustment (Acoach & Webb, 2004; Ke, 2014).…”